1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computer systems, particularly to such systems designed and programmed to operate on a network.
2. Description
The internet and other networks based on TCP/IP protocols permit computer operators linked to a network where the computers use programs known as "browsers" to navigate among separate and distinct World Wide Web (WWW) pages hosted by other computers, each WWW page having a distinct Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and communicating via the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and other protocols. These computer operators can instruct their browsers to move among these WWW pages ("navigate") by hand typing a URL into the browser's command line or by selecting an image or text which then directs the user's computer to the WWW page associated with that text or image.
Having navigated from one WWW page (the "Referring Page") to another WWW page (the "Destination Page"), the computer operator may then return to the Referring Page by using the favorites or history lists, or back button, provided by the browser program. These are commonly used methods for the operator to navigate among WWW pages on the internet or other network. Some WWW pages on the internet have joined in cooperative "rings" to assist the operator's navigation while encouraging the operator to visit only those WWW pages within the ring. Links between these WWW pages are hard-coded; these WWW pages do not dynamically pass information to other WWW pages in the ring based upon the operator's prior navigation. The operator is locked into the ring, prevented from flexible navigation based on the user's prior navigation preferences. Information specific to the Referring Page does not dynamically appear on the screen together with the Destination Page after the operator has navigated to the Destination Page.
Some WWW sites on the internet show ways in which a site may be customized for incoming visitors, but do not provide for dynamic links back to referring pages. For example, the http://www.broadvision.com and http://www.1to1marketing.com sites and others describe methods for presenting information based on an individual user's preferences. However, neither these sites nor any other site currently describe a method for drawing information from or about the Referring Page's URL into the Destination Page for display on the operator's screen as the operator's browser loads the Destination Page.
While U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,738 to Good, et al. (1995) discloses a method for transferring information between computers, it does not describe a method for identifying the Referring URL and then using this information to provide further information to the operator even after the operator has navigated to the Destination Page. U.S. Pat. No. 5,574,837 to Clark et al. (1996) describes passing code segments between computers, but does not describe pulling information from a Referring URL into the information of a Destination Page then sent to the operator's computer and computer monitor.
No method has been described, then, which provides a dynamic, visual representation of Referring URLs within the main screen of the operator's browser (i.e., not contained within the lists or back button described above) as the operator views the Destination Page on her screen.
The present invention provides an apparatus and method to provide this dynamic, visual representation of the Referring Page as the operator views the Destination URL on the computer screen. Two examples of the present invention are illustrative:
In the first example, as the operator navigates from the Referring Page to the the Destination Page the present invention directs the operator's browser to a program which, prior to showing the Destination Page on the operator's screen, incorporates information about the Referring Page within the screen that will display the Destination Page to the operator, thereby continuing to present information about the Referring Page within the operator's field of view.
In the second example, HTTP headers automatically passed by the Referring Page to the Destination Page are used by the present invention to dynamically display the Referring Page's information on the Destination Page. These headers contain information about the operator including, for example, the operator's browser type (through HTTP.sub.-- USER.sub.-- AGENT) and the operator's originating URL (through HTTP.sub.-- REFERER). While mainly designed to coordinate the flow of information between sites, these headers are also used to log information about incoming operators to the Destination Page; for example, to identify the incoming operators' browsers in order to prepare the Destination Page for viewing by that type of brower through USER.sub.-- AGENT or to receive query information being passed by a header through QUERY.sub.-- STRING. The query strings may specify operator information which can then be manipulated by the Destination Page. HTTP headers, then, have been used hitherto to collect information and to prepare the Destination Page for the operator. No method has been described, however, which uses these headers to identify the incoming operator for the purpose of then retrieving further information from the Referring URL in order to incorporate Referring Page information within the Destination Page's information passed back to the operator's browser. Hitherto, navigating between internet sites has not allowed for dynamic navigation between a Referring Page and a Destination Page.
While prior art does show cooperation among sites as well as computers manipulating HTTP headers, nevertheless prior art heretofore suffers from a number of disadvantages:
(a) The Referring Page is lost in the operator's field of view as the operator navigates to the Destination Page. PA1 (b) The operator does not see a dynamic list of visited sites on operator's screen. PA1 (c) In effect, then, the Referring Page is penalized for have links out to other sites, since the operator does not receive any encouragement to return other than through the operator's own memory of the Referring Page or through an active search of the history or favorites list. PA1 (d) The operator cannot customize a series of Referring Pages--a channel--which has been dynamically created based on the operator's actual navigation patterns. PA1 (e) Commercial sites are discouraged from allowing operators to browse, since the probability of the operator returning to the Referring Page are diminished if the Referring Page is out of the operator's field of view. PA1 (a) to provide a method and apparatus which allows visual or other detailed information from a Referring Page to appear on the operator's screen even after the operator has navigated to a Destination Page. PA1 (b) to provide a method and apparatus which allows a group of cooperating sites to pass dynamically generated information to the operator based on the Referring Page the operator has visited but left. PA1 (c) to provide a method and apparatus for a very large group of cooperating sites to advertise at each other's sites by dynamically permitting the Referring Page and Referring Pages prior to the present Referring Page to appear on the operator's screen. PA1 (d) to provide a method and apparatus for creating a virtual channel; that is, a dynamically created group of sites cooperating by virtue of the operator's preferences.